Lost on the Path
by CrossCountryNinja
Summary: Ayame has been dragged out of her early retirement and forced to return to Konohagakure and continue her life as a Ninja. She meets old friends, makes new bets, and encounters a little bit of romance along the way. Will be a bit OoC. rated M to be safe.
1. My Little Brother

**Hey, Piper Here! This is my first story in this new little "project" of mine. Posts will be pretty infrequent, but I'm pretty sure that they will keep coming. Please enjoy and review (not too harsh, though. A little happy criticism works too).**

**Lost On The Path**

**Chapter One: My (sort-of) little bro**

"Ayame, if you do not open this door right now, I am going to knock it down so help me god."

I smiled and leaned against the small and frail door to my one-roomed apartment, feeling the sound from his knocking fist vibrate throughout my spine. I took a deep breath and made my voice mockingly bashful for the reply "oh, but I don't want you to see the wretched state of this dump."

"I don't find this amusing," I heard him refrain from knocking and slump down, his back to the door, probably in the same position as me.

Funny was the one word that I could accurately use to describe this. How many times had I been in his position, pounding on the door and trying to drag him out? "Besides, why on earth would you want to drag me away from my cozy retirement?"

"Because my dad told me too, that's why. He says you're far too comfortable while the rest of us work, or some shit like that..._why?_ Do You think I would do this of my own volition?" That was my (sort-of) brother speaking. Never did anything if he could help it, "can I at least come in? I might fall asleep in the hallway if you're not careful."

I sighed and pulled the door open suddenly enough that he stumbled through and onto the ground, "sorry for my unearthly apartment," I said, scratching my head as I looked around, "the bed's in here somewhere, but I just put a blanket on the counter and sleep there."

Shikamaru's jaw was completely slack as he looked at my wasteland. I went through slowly, brushing things out of the way until I found first a lawn chair and then a pouf to drag into the clearing for us to sit on, "so what's this shit that your dad's spilling about me coming out of retirement?"

"You know it would do a lot of help to everyone," Shikamaru said on his pouf, "other ninja in the village have been through much more shit than you and they're still fighting. You're in the ANBU squad: one of the best."

"Correction: I _was_ in the ANBU squad. And one thing that nobody seems to get is that I _HATED _it. I hated it. Hated killing, hated torture, hated taking orders, hated watching people die. I never wanted to be a fucking ninja! That shit's overrated."

Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, "I'm a Chunin now, you know," was all he could think to say as a reply. I sighed and ran one hand through my hair in exasperation.

"How old would that make you?"

"Thirteen now. And you?"

"Nineteen."

We sat in silence, him looking me up and down. It was an uncomfortable feeling, being looked at. Even when I wore turtleneck shirts and let my hair hang loose around my face, the scars were still visible, looking rude, raw, and red as they snaked up around the border of the right side of my face, teasing the corner of my eye and my hairline.

"You didn't have to move so far away from the village, though," he said, "and I'm not allowed to go back if you're not with me."

"Then you'll have a good life here with me."

"This isn't where I want to be," he said, sighing and putting his hands on his knees, "I traveled two-hundred fucking miles in the past week to come and get you, all because dad told me to, and after four years of absence from my life, you think that _you_ can dictate _me_ around!"

He was getting heated now, and I loved it. People show their truer colors when they're angry.

"Do you want to know the _real_ reason that I left the village?" I asked him. He didn't, no matter what he said. Nobody wanted to hear the real reason.

"Yes."

Bad answer.

"Well I'm not going to tell you. And because I'm feeling gracious tonight, you can sleep on the counter. I've got dibs on the bathtub. Good night."

I picked up a blanket and pillow on my way to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. The mirror had long-since been smashed so that I didn't have to go through the pain of staring at myself. The small bits of broken mirror were still gathered in the bottom of the sink.

I was weak, I would admit. I was host to the spirit inside of me: Hakaisha-Karasu, the destroyer bird. Being the host of the Karasu was similar to being a Jinchuriki host, but much more difficult. In order to host a creature such as the Karasu, one had to be born with special chakras of containment. Even if you _did_ have the correct chakras, there was a special chemistry to one's soul that they needed.

The Karasu was also painfully difficult to control, and the channel of chakra that I could draw from it was thin and flowed extremely slowly. I had it bound with the chains of my heart, therefore I could draw a bit more of its chakra, but it still wanted to kill me the entire time.

I had only learned to fully control the Karasu during the first year of my retirement, when I was fifteen. I still found myself having sweaty, epilepsy-esque fits from time to time as the beast pushed on me from the inside.

It was a given fact, I forced myself to realize, that I would be returning to Konoha. I wasn't sure if I could stand having my (sort-of) little brother banished from the village because of me. I sighed and lay down in the tub, ensconcing myself in warm fleece blanket.

Sleep didn't come easily that night. To be frank, it hadn't come easily in about one thousand, eight hundred and twenty five nights (5 years). Most nights, it was a miracle if I even fell asleep at all so I should have been thanking god for the gift of sleep.

But maybe it's better when you _don't_ sleep.

It keeps the nightmares away.

"Ayame! Wake up!" a small-ish pair of hands were roughly shaking me back and forth, moving with frantic sense of urgency.

I ceased my screams and straightened up immediately, managing to bonk heads with Shikamaru and sent myself sinking back into the tub with a loud moan, "what?" I asked crabbily. There _was_ going to be a bruise there the next day.

"Y-you were screaming, so I decided to come in and wake you up," he said, his eyes changing from fearful to bored, "pack your stuff, because we're leaving at noon."

I scoffed and sat up, "what makes you think that you can force me to come back with you?" I asked, sitting up in the tub as he walked towards the sink, looking into the broken mirror with furrowed eyebrows then running the water over his hands, not bothering to soap them.

"Because there's too much for you in the village," he said simply, "you've got your dad and my family, That man with the eyebrows, Yamato-kun, Kotetsu-kun, Izumo-kun, Iruka-sensei, Asuma-sensei…" he drifted off before meeting my eyes again, "they all want to see you, too, you know."

I sighed and slumped my shoulders, looking down and into the drain of the tub, where several chunks of accidentally-ripped-out hair were stuck, "why me?" I asked, and closed my eyes. I hadn't cried in nearly twelve years and wasn't going to start now, "I'm coming, I guess. Just get out please. Come back at noon." I sat and listened to his footsteps as they made their way back through the apartment and out the door.

Ah, I'm so stupid! I screamed aloud, standing up and walking over to what was left of the mirror. I drew my arm back and punched it as hard as I could. Glass rained around me, slicing my scalp and arm, creating a small scratch on my nose.

Karasu's power immediately flared up to heal my wounds, but I fought against it, twisting my fist around, watching the blood drip down my wrist.

_There, _I thought, removing my hand and watching the raw, bloody knuckles as they smiled up at me. That was good enough recompense. What would any of them think? What would any of them say?

They would hate me, of course. Iruka was probably more bitter than I cared to imagine, Asuma burning with disappointment, Maki as hateful as always. Hell, Kakashi probably had forgotten my name by this point. He had never enjoyed me anyway—just sort-of protected me.

Gai would be fine, and then Kotetsu and Izumi would welcome me back with the most open of arms that I could possibly imagine. The three of them had sheltered me the most in my life.

My father was hardly ever in the village, spending so much of his time tracking down his ex-teammate throughout the world. I could not deny that he was the one that I loved more than anyone else, but it made me sickeningly angry to think about his large absence in my life, thinking that giving me that Nara family as an exchange would somehow work for me.

And Kushina was dead. I loved her more than anything I had ever felt before. Gai had the ghost of an understanding of me, and she had the entire thing. We were hosts together, suffering together, stuffing ourselves with unhealthy food together. I would liked to have thought that she was my biological mother. I would never know who my biological mother was, I feared.

There was now no sign at all that a mirror once hung on that wall, just an empty medicine cabinet, without a door. I knew what I would have seen, though, had I looked in the mirror.

I would have seen the face of a killer.

An angry, selfish killer. Moonlight pale skin, large thick-lashed silver eyes, a regal curve to her nose, considerably thin lips, high cheekbones, wavering jawline. Pale bronze-colored ringlets fell everywhere around her body, down to her waist.

And there were the scars. I had them all the way down to the top of my right thigh. They hugged me angrily like a glove, looking raw and shiny, as if I had been eaten alive. They didn't curve too far around me, though. They hugged my ribcage and waste, a good half of my right breast, my shoulder, chest area, a good half of my neck, and the outside curve of my face.

I didn't have the guts for this shit, I realized for the umpteenth time.

There was nothing that I needed in this apartment, I realized, looking around. My Konoha gear was all back at home, rotting in the basement.

I had two outfits total, and since it was hot outside, I opted for the second, which consisted of plain madras shorts and a loose-fitting t-shirt that had been sliced around the collar and the waist. I had bought this off of some man in the village where I had taken residence in, for only two Ryo.

I managed to find a tent somewhere amongst the rubble, and decided to carry it with me, in the event that Shikamaru had somehow made this week's journey without a tent.

And with that last resentful thought, I was ready to go.

Back to some remnant of my prior life.

**There we go, Chapter One. Not as scary a process as I thought (although I _did_ have to convert my files to Microsoft Word for this to work). Please R&R (if this website even _has_ review...I should look into that)**

**Chapter Two coming soon-perhaps even tonight, If internet at the Best Western doesn't fail me.**

**Love Y'all!**

**XOXO Piper**


	2. Drunk And Broke

**Piper again! Yay, numba two! Imma go to bed after this, though, so no three for now. And to anybody who's reading this, Thanks...Oh, and the chapters are going to get longer after this, so no worries! ^_^**

**Chapter Two: Drunk and Broke (lethal combination!)**

Shikamaru came back at twelve, just as he had promised, and it turned out that he had brought his own tent. We walked silently through the paths, me slightly behind him. Even though he had grown, Shikamaru was still the exact child that I had always known, just trapped in a more mature shell. He walked with his thumbs hooked around the straps of his backpack, staring endlessly into the sky, filled with cumulus clouds on that particular day.

"You've grown so much," was all that I could say to him without having my voice burdened with the pain of returning to the dreaded place of my birth. Shikamaru didn't answer.

Of course, the Karasu was practically turning flips in my stomach, excited to be around so much flowing chakra at once. I nearly punched myself to get it to shut up.

The entire journey was in silence, and I discovered that there was nothing I could do that would help that fact. Shikamaru was already vexed at me, I could feel, and the last thing that I wanted to do was egg him on.

I could feel, around day ten of our journey, the scenery change drastically, and I knew that we were a good ten miles away. We would have arrived by sundown.

As my luck would have it, though, there was none other awaiting me at the gate than the one and only Ibiki Morino, head of the ANBU interrogation unit…and my previous commander dude. There was nothing that I wanted more than to flow into the dirt of the path as he spied me approaching and leaned back against the gate, his eyes cool and narrowed.

"Well, Ayame Fujioka," he said to me, dismissing Shikamaru with the wave of a hand and cornering me all on my own, "back to play run-around with us again?"

I shook my head, looking down, "I don't know what any of you want, but you're not going to get it from me," I said loud and clear, and then heard Ibiki click his tongue, "I'm retired," I continued, "I never wanted this shit to begin with, and you can't start shoving it into my face now that—"

"But don't you understand, Fujioka?" Asked Ibiki, his face closing in on mine until we were mere inches apart and I couldn't focus on his eyes because my vision got fuzzy, "it doesn't matter what you want at all. You have talent, therefore you are a pawn. _My_ pawn to be exact on that." He drew back a bit, just far enough so that I could bring his face into focus once more, "don't forget it," was all that he said before disappearing with a loud pop.

Ghost town.

I had continued through the gate and that was all that I could think, walking around and seeing everything that I could see. People everywhere of all types: vendors, ninjas, everyday people. It was getting dark though, I knew, and the Nara estate was far away.

Unable to help myself, I ducked into a bar. It was one that I had been familiar with quite a long time ago. I had a total of six-hundred Ryo in my back pocket, and if inflation hadn't changed at all, that was just enough for six large vats of sake.

At that point, all I needed was my own personal village of drunken reform. I sat at the bar and paid up for my first. It was fire in my throat and left my stomach dancing violently.

After the second, I was already feeling a little tipsy. Could I keep this going through four more? Well I was about to find out!

It might've just been my tipsiness, but as I looked around once more after the fourth, I could swear that I was looking at the back of Minato Namikaze's head. But as I blinked harder, looking into the expanse of blonde, I noticed subtle differences to his figure. For one, he was much too short to be Minato. Shoulders not broad enough. Stance not proud enough.

"Another, please," I said much too loudly, lowering my empty mug to the countertop and pulling out ten of my last twenty Ryo, slapping them into the bartender's hand. He looked alarmed for a moment as he stared into my reddened eyes, but blinked a couple of times and re-filled the mug.

The boy had turned to look at me as I lifted the mug to my lips, and I instantly regretted taking that sip, for the next thing I knew there was sake coming out of my nose and I was choking on the alcohol that attempted to snake down my throat. It was certainly Kushina I was looking at, changed in gender, hair, and eye color. Her face was right before me, staring.

And then somebody caught me from behind, pumping my stomach hard enough that I could choke out the sake, splattering it all down my front, "are you okay?" Asked the tall man behind me, his eyes slowly registering some sort of recognition as he stared down at me.

"No, I'm not," I said angrily as he removed his hands from my stomach, "why are you here?" I finally asked, fidgeting uncomfortably. I wanted to hug him—sort of, but I couldn't. It wouldn't feel right after not having seen him in four years.

I didn't have to do anything, though, because it was his grip that found me, squeezing around my shoulders until I felt that I was being smothered, "I've missed you," was all that he said, so tall and big-boned, "and you've grown very much, if I do say so myself."

"Please release me," was all that I said, and he pulled back, stars in his eyes as he looked over my face, holding his grip around my shoulders.

"Naruto," he said to the boy that looked eerily like Kushina, causing him to pay attention to our small and awkward exchange, "this is my daughter, Ayame. She's been absent from the village for a while, but I dare say she has returned."

As he spoke, I had finished my drink and pulled out the last of my money, and I was holding it out to the bartender as Jiraiya snatched it from my outstretched hand, placing it back in my pocket, "that's enough for you," was all he said as he lifted me, getting the boy, Naruto, to take my other side as we escorted Naruto back to his home, and then Jiraiya brought me back to his.

"What made you come back?" Jiraiya said as we entered his apartment and I sat down on the couch, my mind drunkenly dizzy. I knew very well where I had gotten my messy genes, even though Jiraiya's was nowhere near as bad as mine.

"Shikamaru," I said, my eyes staying blank as I bent over to touch my toes mindlessly, "he came and told me that if I didn't come back his dad would banish him from the village…or something."

"That does sound like Shikaku," Jiraiya said, nodding, as he brought over a glass of water to hand to me, "are you going to resume working with the ANBU?"

This question got me sputtering and choking on the water that I was attempting to swallow. Jiraiya just sat calmly, patting me on the back as I managed to choke up the water, "fuck no," I gasped, pinching the bridge of my nose between two fingers, "Ibiki was already threatening me on the way in."

"I know you don't want my opinion, but do you know what I think you should do?"

"You're right. I don't want your opinion," I downed the glass of water, now clutching my stomach, which was beginning to clench and threaten vomit. I hadn't drunken in a long time.

"I think that you should apply for a squad of genin," he said, and I nearly choked with laughter, which turned to a howl of pain as I ran to puke in his stainless steel sink. He was somehow still behind me as he held my hair back and I puked violently into the sink. When I was finished, Jiraiya ran the water to flush out my vomit into the drain and re-filled my glass of water.

We returned to the couch and sat silently as I finished four more glasses of water then asked slowly, "can I borrow some clothes please?"

"If you listen to what I have to say," he said, and I suddenly began to notice how old my father was. I mean, he had always been older than me and I hadn't seen him in years, but he seemed tired. Crow's feet were sprouting subtly from the corners of his eyes, and the wart on his nose had seemed to grow in size of the years.

I groaned and threw my head back, but didn't move. I could feel his fingers tracing the scars on my neck as he spoke, "think about it. You have a strong maternal instinct," I waited for him to giggle after that comment.

"You're just fucking with me," I said, trying to swat his hand away from my neck, but he just traced the scars down to my shoulder.

"No," he said, arching his eyebrows to see if I would try to say anything else before carrying on, "you always used to bring stray cats home to the Nara house and nurse them back to health before finding owners—"

"That's not maternal, dad, that's a cat fetish," I said with a roll of my eyes, swatting his hand away once more with a lazy twitch of my wrist.

He carried on as if I hadn't spoken, "—and the new genin generally only participate in D and C-rank missions, which means that you wouldn't have to kill, and for the most part, injure either. That's what you want, right?" When I stayed silent, he continued on, "well, then, I'll recommend you for the next graduating class. Keep in mind, though, it's pretty hard. They can _definitely_ be a handful."

"Dad, I'm tired," I said, making sure that my voice sounded as if the conversation had gone in one ear and out the other—even though I had been keeping careful attention, "can I please borrow something to sleep in?"

Jiraiya sighed and managed to find me a shirt to sleep in. He was so ginormous that the shirt nearly reached my knees, even though I was fairly tall for a girl. Without a moment's hesitation, I knotted my hair on top of my head with a rubber band and crawled into his large bed.

"You know, if you had one ounce of humility, you would have offered to sleep on the couch," Jiraiya said, sliding into the other side of the bed and opening his arms up for me to cuddle like we did when I was younger. I frowned at him and turned away, leaving him to sallow in rejection.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," I said mockingly, reaching out and turning off the lamp on my side of the bed, waiting for the accompanying click from his end.

It was quiet for a few minutes before he spoke again, "I hope you go see Kakashi soon," his voice was so quiet that I was sure I had imagined him speaking until he spoke again, "it would be much nicer for you to tell him than if somebody else were to."

I felt my chest clench painfully and turned my head to the other side so that I could look into Jiraiya's eyes through the dull moonlight that wafted through the window, "do I have to cut your tongue off, or are you going to shut up on your own?" He grinned and winked at me quickly before I turned back so that I was facing away form him.

In a strange kind of way, it was good to be back.

**Ahhhh, so maybe it's not that bad! R&R (still not sure if this site has Ratings, though, but I will continue to write "R&R" until proven wrong) Por favor.**

**Good Night, world!**

**Piper**


	3. You Can't Handle The Children

**Piper here! Again! We're actually spending the weekend in this little town in New Mexico and the hotel has free internet (most of the hotels we stay at have free internet, because most of them suck). SO, I wrote two more chapters over the past...few days, since the last time I was logged in anyway. I'll be posting four later. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Three: You Can't Handle the Children**

"Ayame! Wake up, Ayame!"

Shit. I forgot about those pesky nightmares. Somewhere in-between, my thrashing turned to conscious alarm, and I opened my eye mid-turn, my hand making a painful snap as it connected with Jiraiya's nose. My last scream turned mid-way to a laugh as a small trickle of blood escaped from his left nostril.

"What was that?" He asked, reaching up and wiping his nose with his wrist as I clicked on the lamp, sitting up. My vision was blurred with hangover, and my head throbbed as I looked down at my knees, little blind patches dancing across my vision.

My voice was sour as I replied, "what did it look like? I thought that nightmares were a common enough affliction. Or is it another one of those shit holes that I have to dig myself out of alone?"

"You've become bitter," was all he said as he handed me a cup of water. I immediately felt bad for the way that I had lashed out. I downed the cup of water quickly and then crawled over to him, pulling myself into his lap.

"I'm sorry," was all that I said, my voice hoarse. He absentmindedly combed through my hair with his fingers and it felt like it did when I was six and there was no hate in my heart.

And there was nearly no hate in my heart now. There was nobody else in the world that I hated so much as myself, and that was what drove me crazy with rage. Jiraiya left for the day and I was alone in his rather large apartment, with the entire day to myself.

So, I did what I wanted to. I sliced off enough of his t-shirt so that somebody else could tell that I was wearing shorts beneath it, then put my shorts back on, and made my barefooted way out to the academy, to build a few bridges with some old friends.

Iruka was in the classroom alone, obviously preparing to greet a new group of children, so I let myself in and sat down in a desk at the very back. He didn't seem to notice me, just continued to erase the the board his back to me. It was excruciating, I thought, to be this close, yet too scared to do what I needed and reach out.

"I thought that it was just rumors that you had returned, Aya-san," he said, not meeting my eyes as he sat down at his desk, opening a file and leafing through the papers, "turns out the rumors don't lie as often as one would assume. This one seemed much more unlikely the others that I had heard, though. I mean, why on earth would _you_ return here to Konoha? It's unheard of!"

"Iruka, stop it," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose between two fingers and glaring down at the desktop, "I know, I'm deranged, stupid, naive, cowardly, frail, slow, weak," I continued listing off a few common adjectives, as if reciting a memorized list of all of the hidden villages, "unworthy, untrustable, juvenile—"

"—I wouldn't go that far," he looked up, brow furrowed. I shut up. This had been exactly what I wanted, "it's just that we all needed you. The entire Village needed you. And you ran. You couldn't handle the pressure, so you ran away. And four years later, you just turn up virtually out of nowhere. It's unnerving."

I sat in silence for a few moments, "I'm not going to re-join the ANBU—"

"Well _there's_ an idea," he said sarcastically, breaking me off.

"—So I need to act quickly, before Ibiki gets his paws on me and drags me back into the line of duty," I said and sighed, "so I was thinking about maybe being assigned a squad of genin."

Iruka looked up at me slowly, blinking slowly as if he had heard me wrong. When he realized that I was actually telling the truth, his laugh was the kind that made me want to throw my head back and scream, "you can't handle it," he said, shaking his head and laughing, "no way."

"Why not?" I asked. There was still a good twenty feet between us as I sat at my desk and he at his, "I need something, and these kids don't go on killer missions."

Iruka shook his head, "the problem is not the types of missions: you could handle that. It's the fact that you couldn't handle _one_ of these kids, much less three! These children are in the heart of adolescence, they need somebody compassionate to help them through this."

"I heard Kakashi got a squad," I said bitterly.

"That," Iruka said, standing up and walking to the door, "is different."

I ran after him, stalking him down the hall, "I do not see how that is different in any way shape or form," I said, jumping in front of him to block his path. He walked around me and I jumped in front of him again.

"You know what, fine," he said, throwing his hands up, and along with them an entire stack of papers, "I will see to it that you are assigned a squad after graduation next month. _If_ they pass the bell test, I will bet you five hundred Ryo that you can't advance at least two of them through the Chunin exams."

I rolled my eyes, "you're on."

"Well I just earned an easy five hundred Ryo," he said, shrugging and walking past me, only stopping to call back over his shoulder, "be a doll and pick those papers up for me, Fujioka."

So much for rekindling friendships.

/\/\/\/\/

I hadn't any leftover money, I realized, therefore all I could afford to do was walk aimlessly through the streets, cowardly trying to hide from anything that seemed like it might be close to recognizing me. I realized, too soon, that it was an impossible feat I was trying to accomplish.

It was late afternoon by then, and I was still feeling like shit, both from my hangover and not having eaten all day. I was ready to pull an eat-and-run when I saw him—well, 'saw' was putting it lightly, anyway.

And it wasn't a down-the-street spy that could have been easily avoided either. It was a flat-on collision. I had been looking up at the sky, force of habit that I had picked up from Shikamaru in my day. He had been coming in the other direction, and it was completely out of nowhere when I slammed into him with all my the force of my body, and wound up on the ground, looking at the sky from a more natural, horizontal position.

"Oh, dear," I muttered, squinting and rubbing my head as I sat up, "I'm sorr—" and then I saw his face…or, more accurately, _didn't_ see his face. It was obviously Kakashi Hatake because who else on earth would wear that moronic mask? Or had that silvery mess of hair?

Within a second, he was on his feet again, offering a hand to me, "we meet again, Fujioka-kun," was all that he said, and I attempted to make a quick getaway upon hearing that, darting quickly to the side. He somehow managed to capture my wrist with one of his hands and draw me to his side.

"Well," I said, as we continued down the street. Kakashi had been reading one of Jiraiya's novels, I realized, and tucked it back into pouch on his belt so that he could walk with me, "I'd tell you that you're looking good, but that would be sort of hard, considering I can't see you."

"Oh, your sharp wit has been missed," he said with an apathetic monotone that made it hard to understand whether he was praising or reprimanding me.

"I'm amazed you even remember my name," I said with a small laugh, "I thought that when one's hair goes grey, so does their memory."

He shook his head, "it wasn't a matter of remembering your name so much as it was of _recognizing_ you," he said, and his tone betrayed the fact that it would have been an exclamation if he spoke in the same dialect as everyone else as opposed to his boring apathetic monotone, "you look too different for words."

We continued to walk in silence, me feeling extremely uncomfortable, until he finally grabbed my arm, just above the elbow, and turned, leading me through a door, "how about some dinner?"

I furrowed my brow, "but I don't have any money," I said, looking up into his one eye. He shrugged, as if to say that he would pay, "why would you pay to bring me to dinner?"

"I thought that was how old friends catch up," he said as the maitre d' led us to our table. Kakashi held out a chair for me before walking around to his side of the table and taking his own seat.

"I wasn't aware that we were old friends," was my reply as I opened the menu, my eyes automatically filtering so that I could list at least twelve things that I wanted.

"Well then maybe we can be new friends," was all that he said, and we each became enveloped in our own menus.

I ordered four different dishes, dictated completely by my stomach. Kakashi laughed incredulously and informed me that I would never eat that much. I told him that I would bet on it if I had any money.

Actually, I was extremely surprised how easily conversation came with him. It just naturally rolled off my tongue in a way that I could hardly believe. We talked about everything: about his squad, my four years of retirement, the weather, mutual friends, and practically our entire life stories.

He had been right about one thing, though. I _couldn't_ finish all four dishes. He had to help me on the last one, which had been a large plate of just noodles. And, sadly enough, I felt even _worse_ after eating than I had before. I guess there's some sort of unspoken rule about bloating oneself when hung over.

"I dare say this has been fun," he said as we left the restaurant. I couldn't walk home at this point, so I decided to excuse myself quickly and spend the night in an alleyway.

"It definitely has," I said between clenched teeth, "now, if you'll excuse me," and I teetered off, slower than I might've imagined. I barely made it ten steps when I keeled over, the vomit that I called to not complying with my body's shouts for help and keeping itself at bay in my stomach.

He was laughing beside me in a second, one hand on my back, "you ate too much," he said, lifting me up by the armpits until I was on my feet, and allowing me to sling my arm across his shoulders. I was not used to this much contact and shrunk back, nearly flipping over his arm, which had snaked around my waist to help guide me through the streets.

"You can let go," I said, attempting to swat at his hand with my free one, "I can walk fine," he merely laughed and continued to guide me, back to Jiraiya's apartment, for lack of knowledge as to anywhere else that I might go. I needed to return to the Nara household sometime soon, I realized, or they would think that I deserted Shikamaru at the gate.

"Well," Kakashi said as we were finally outside the door, "there are a number of things that I could do right now," it seemed as if he was thinking aloud, "I could kiss you on the cheek and tell you that it was fun and that we should do this again, but my lips are not available to kiss your cheek and I don't get the vibes that you're that kind of person," he blinked his visible eye slowly before continuing, "so I will just pat your arm," he patted my shoulder, "say, 'don't get yourself killed between now and the next time we meet,' in order to confirm that there will, indeed be a next time," he blinked once more and cleared his throat before continuing, "and take my leave," and he disappeared.

That was the strangest good-bye exchange that _I_ had ever taken part in. I walked into Jiraiya's apartment and was immediately greeted by the vile and discomforting sounds of an orgy. I sighed and shook my head, gathering a glass of water from the sink and lying myself out on the couch for a sleepless night filled with the sounds of my father pleasuring multiple women.

Any girl's dream.

/\/\/\/\/

"Good morning," was Jiraiya's greeting the next morning, as I watched all three of his overnight wards leave, fully clothed and with messy hair, "did you sleep well?" He asked, tying the robe around his waist and sitting down on the couch beside me.

I rolled my eyes and curled my toes, looking out the window, "how do you think I slept?"

"It would be an easier guess if you just told me," he said with a shrug, "you like poached eggs, right?" he lifted himself slowly from the couch, walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah, they're fine. I was thinking about going out to the training grounds today, if you want to come with?" I stood up and followed him to the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the barstools as he took a few eggs from their place in the fridge.

"Sorry, but I've got some things to do with Naruto today," I couldn't tell from his face if he was _actually_ sorry or not, but I was fine with it. Let him choose who he wanted to, "don't be like that, Aya," he said, obviously reading my expression, "a promise is a promise, right. Why don't you call up Yamato or Gai or Maki if they're not busy?"

"Maki hates me."

"Who could hate you?" Jiraiya said tiredly, wiping his eye with the back of one hand.

"Maki. That's who." And everyone else I know except you, dad.

"Well what about Gai and Yamato, then?"

I shrugged, "Yamato's probably on duty and Gai's too…Gai-like."

"Asuma?"

"He's always busy," I knew I was being ridiculous by this point. Really, I was just a coward.

"When did you get so picky about your friends?"

"When I discovered how much easier it is when you don't have any…I mean, it's not like I had so many to begin with."

Jiraiya just sighed and threw his hands in the air, forgetting that he was holding an egg and splattering it on the ceiling, "if you don't call somebody up in the next hour, I'm calling for you. And you don't want your dad to organize your play-dates, do you?"

I sighed and shook my head, "fine. I'll call Yamato, I guess," Yamato would be fine. If he was the way I remembered, he wouldn't talk much and that was good news. I didn't need him smart-mouthing my decision the same way that some people did and would.

Then, egg began to drip from the ceiling and onto Jiraiya's head, so he naturally had me stand up on the counter and wipe it off, as he provided support for my feet, as if I gravity was about to suddenly relieve itself of me and allow me to float around like a dead fish.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, jumping from the counter and landing on the ground, a spark in my eye, "I just got a fantastic idea. Do you have any blank scrolls?"

Jiraiya smiled warily at me, "what's your idea?" My last 'fantastic' idea put seven in the hospital, even though I was devastated by it.

"You'll see," I said, snatching the scrolls and brushes from his hands as he offered them, running back into his closet to take some more too-large clothes for myself.

"Don't cut up any more of my shirts!" He exclaimed as I found one of his little green kimonos that he wore as a shirt. It was long enough for me to wear on its own, so that was what I did, still not wearing shoes as I grabbed an empty bag and discarded all of the blank scrolls and bits of ink in it, running back to the door.

"See you tonight, dad!" I called, hoping briefly that he hadn't realized that in my 'idea' frenzy, I had forgotten to call Yamato. Good plan, if you ask me.

But I really _did_ have an idea. And it would probably be a good one if I could produce such a jutsu as I had imagined. So I ran out to the training grounds. My favorite ground consisted of forest-like terrain, so I nestled myself up in the branches of a tree and went to work on my new jutsu.

Surprisingly enough, I had most of it written out by sundown, and was happily surprised when nobody appeared on Jiraiya's orders, instructed to spar with me.

"Oh, I get it," Jiraiya said, looking over my quick, dark scrawls, which took up a grand total of six scrolls, so far, and would probably take up one or two more before I was done, "how are you going to put in the hand seals with this?" He asked, scratching his chin as he laid out the scrolls in order.

"Well, the jutsu requires earth and wind, right," I said, using my fingers to spread the scrolls around, "so…I really have no idea."

"Well it's a brilliant idea for a jutsu, and if you manage to put it together right, I'm sure the ANBU will be dying to get their paws around it…you've got a gift for creating jutsu, my girl," he said with a smile, clapping my back.

It wasn't a very simple idea, to think of. The jutsu required the user to create a pressurized dome of air, around the second party, and then somehow lift gravity on the inside of the dome, giving the air the same weightless pressure as if one were floating about in space, making it nearly impossible to move. Once I had combined oxygen and earth to pull the gravity away, it would be easy to control the dome with my hands.

Seeing as Jiraiya didn't have any more women over that night, I was allowed back my spot in the bed, but only after I had watched Jiraiya wash the sheets twice would I lie down, "hey," he whispered as we turned the lights off.

"What?"

"You didn't call Yamato," I could tell from his tone of voice that he had know what I was doing the whole time, and it made me want to laugh a little bit, "and Tsunade told me that Iruka recommended you for a squad of genin next month."

I smiled, curling up so that my knees were pressed to my chest, "yeah. I've got a little bet with him going. If I can advance two of them to Chunin, he owes me five hundred Ryo."

Jiraiya's booming laughter filled the room, and made me feel a little bit warm on the inside, "you're becoming more like your godmother every day, you know that?" He said, and I could tell from the shape of his silhouette that he was sitting up now.

"Except that I don't make _losing_ bets," I said defiantly, sticking my chin out from my lying down position.

"You sure about that?" Was all that he said in reply as I watched his silhouette straighten back to a horizontal position on the bed.

I went to sleep with a smile on my lips.

**It's hard when I'm writing these to get a grip as to what they're _really_ like, so I would appreciate it if y'all wrote reviews for me.**

**Thanks a bunch, if you even read this!**

**Piper**


	4. Sleepy, Bendy, and Artsy

**Haha, we were at borders and I decided to buy a new manga: You know the Ouran Host Club, whatever. I opened the book and the first thing that I saw was that the protagonist has the same last name is _my_ protagonist: Fujioka. Small world, huh?**

**Chapter Four: Sleepy, Bendy, and Artsy**

It was beginning to become a bit of a habit that Jiraiya would shake my screaming self back to life in the morning, and he was less alarmed by it now.

"Shikaku called," he said as I blinked a few times, rubbing my now-sore throat, "they want you to come over for breakfast. And you have clothes there, anyway."

"There's no way I still fit into those," I said with a laugh as I walked back into his closet, acting as if I owned the place as I grabbed another one of his green kimonos, pulling it over my shoulders before joining him in the kitchen, saying, "see. We match."

Jiraiya shook his head, "we're going shopping," was all that he said, "and _please_ stop by the Nara house before you go off and finish that jutsu. Do it for the memory of your mother."

"I don't have anything to do with the memory of my mother."

"Yeah, well take my word that she was awesome and go," he said, pushing my shoulder lightly in the direction of the door.

It was a bit of a walk of shame, in my opinion. My hair had grown annoyingly long and I was going to have to cut it soon. Jiraiya's clothes were comfy, though. I would have to get the number for his tailor. I adjusted the straps of the backpack on my shoulders.

"Ayame-kun!" Yoshino exclaimed as she threw the door open.I shrugged uncomfortably as she hugged me, and then pulled back and looked at me once, "what are you _wearing_? You look like your father!" I laughed uncomfortably and followed her inside, "look who's home!" She called out to Shikamaru and Shikaku, both of whom looked very uncomfortable at the kitchen table.

"Welcome back, Ayame-kun," Shikaku said briefly as I sat down at the table, squeezing my knees together, "what have you been up to since you got back?"

I sighed and fidgeted a bit, "well, I've been creating a new jutsu," he raised his eyebrows in interest so I pulled out the scrolls and handed them to him, letting Shikamaru look on over his shoulder.

"Interesting," Shikaku said after a few moments, handing it back to me, "I hope you'll teach me this new jutsu when you've finished with it."

"Oh, and I'm going to be assigned a squad of genin next month after graduation," this earned slack jaws all around the kitchen, "dad told me to. He said it would get me out of working with the ANBU again, and that's really my only goal at this point."

Yoshino was smiling after this, "in that case, I've got a gift for you," she said, reaching up on the counter and grabbing a rather expensive looking mahogany box, "well it's not really a gift, but I've saved it for you over these years."

My forehead protector, I realized, as I opened the box and pulled out my bittersweet old companion. There was a portion of the top that had chipped off when I had been struck with a crossbow a few years ago, and countless forgotten little scratches on the surface.

I smiled ruefully, putting the scrolls back in my pack as I tied the band around my upper left arm, where it had always sat, except when I was on ANBU duty, a job where I was required to wear it around my forehead like everybody else.

Maki had always worn hers the traditional way: around her forehead. Maki was a very generic person until she got a defined tan line from the imprint of the protector and decided to cut her hair so that she had bangs and start wearing her protector like a belt.

"That's the way I like to see you," Shikaku said with a smile, reaching across to ruffle my hair, "and if you ever want to come back, your room is still yours."

I nodded, "well for now, I'm living with Jiraiya. And I'll probably just take care of his apartment when he's away. But thank you very much for everything you guys have ever done for me."

Then it was time to take my leave, and I was quite relieved to get away and back to the training ground that I had been spending my time on. Surprisingly, Shikamaru followed me, "don't tell me I'm going to have to ditch you like when we were little," I said as he came up to walk with me.

"As if," he said with that bored little smile of his, "I gotta train."

"Okay, well see ya!" I exclaimed, jumping up onto the roof and ditching him in the street so that I could make it to my training ground, finding another tree to take refuge in and immediately dove into finishing my jutsu.

Jiraiya had been right that it would only get harder. The last two scrolls took me the entire day and most of the night. The sun was rising again before I had realized that it set, and I was still on my second to last scroll, so I snoozed for exactly two and a half hours in my tree then got back to work.

"You know, this is a place where people train, right?" I jumped so violently at the sudden voice that I spilled ink all over the front of Jiraiya's kimono, but managed to not get any on my scrolls. "What if you had gotten hit by an ill-aimed jutsu?" Kakashi asked. He was sitting in the branches above me, having gotten up there unnoticed as I worked hard.

"How long have you been up there?" I asked, gasping and putting one hand over my heart as I brushed the scrolls back into my bag and looked down at what was surely going to be a large, unwashable stain. Jiraiya might murder me if I ruined any more of his clothes.

"A few days, actually," He said, sitting up and scratching his head, "I was walking around this training ground, and got a bit lost, and it was nighttime, so I found this tree and allowed myself some sleep. When I woke again, I was inexplicably sore and remembered that I didn't have anything to do, so I just relaxed. Then you showed up and I watched you like the creep that I am."

I nodded, taking in his story, "So you've been watching me all day?"

"Guilty as charged," I imagined a cheeky smile on his enigmatic face, "but that's a very good idea. I look forward to the finished product. I remember that jutsu you created when you were only six years old. Do you remember that?"

"No."

"Really? Well, every time I turned around, you would pants me. It was without a doubt the most useless jutsu I've ever seen in my life."

I laughed. That _was_ very like me. Up until I was seven and a half, I lived at home, and whenever Jiraiya was out of town, I would stay with Kushina and her husband, Minato. I had met Minato's squad many times, and particularly enjoyed irritating them. The only one who never got irritated was a boy named Obito, who had more often than not joined me in my endeavors.

"You're wearing your forehead protector. Does that mean you're back to stay?" He asked, and I shrugged, putting my scrolls back in my bag, "now, in our short time together, I could not help but to come to two conclusions. Would you like to hear those two things?"

"Sure," I said, grinning up at him.

"The first conclusion is the more simple to solve. You have not eaten for eighteen hours at least, and I would like to offer my aid in order to cure your famine," I laughed, "and the second is that you are both wearing and have soiled your father's clothes. Am I correct?"

"You _are_ correct. I'll take you up on your offer for breakfast, but I cannot allow you to purchase me a new much-needeed wardrobe."

Kakashi flipped around so that he was hanging upside down from his branch, his face closer to mine, "but how could I bring an ink-covered girl in her father's clothes to breakfast with me? People would talk," I wasn't sure when we started being so formal with each other, but it was definitely fun.

"_One_ outfit," I said with a laugh as I lowered myself from the tree and onto the ground, regretful that I hadn't enough money to purchase my own clothes…or food.

"Are shoes included in this deal?" he said, looking down at my much-too-dirty feet, which looked as if they did not belong with my ghostly complexion.

I shrugged, "they will be if you insist on it," it sucked to be broke. Maybe I shouldn't have spent all my money on sake that first night back.

"Well then I insist on it," he said with a nod, and we went back into town.

So I bought a similar kimono to the one that I had stolen from my father, although the new one was a silvery color instead of being green. It was on sale for seventy percent off, too, which was a plus. Then, I bought an extremely cheap pair of sandals with straps that held them to my ankles so that they wouldn't fall off when I tried to move.

"Well," Kakashi said, looking me up and down as I stuffed Jiraiya's kimono in a trash bin, "you have successfully purchased the cheapest outfit that this world has ever seen…so congratulations."

We went to breakfast after that, and Kakashi told me about having a squad of new genin, complete with the ups _and_ downs, and more downs, and even more downs. It was hard to believe that so many irritating things could come from three twelve-year-olds, but it was surprising.

Girls at that age were shallow and self-centered and mean to less-pretty people, there would be problems if I got two alpha males that decided to battle it out for lead position, or if I got an alpha female who kicked both of those boys' asses, or if they all hated each other, if one of them was a smart ass, if none of them knew what to do, when they fought amongst themselves…but, hey! It's the spirit of youth!

"Shut up," I said, tearing at a piece of toast violently with my teeth, "you're bringing me down," he shrugged and cut a bit of ham to put in his mouth.

"Better to prepare you," he said with a shrug, and based on what his eye did, I could tell that he was silently laughing at me, "your time is fast-approaching. Your days of freedom are numbered."

"Geez, you make it sound like I'm getting married or something," I said with a roll of my eyes.

He burst into laughter at that, choking on a piece of ham, "I now remember why all your friends are male," was all that he could say through sputtering laughter, "girls wouldn't get your humor."

"How's Maki doing?" I asked, my voice darkening a little. He immediately sobered up, looking me up and down with his one eye.

"She's doing…fine," he said tersely, testing the waters on the subject, "made Jounin last year, away on a long mission now. She's engaged to be married," and after that, he was done talking about Maki, which was good because I was too.

Maki was my ex-best friend from youth. She was always the leader, and I the follower. Ever since we were six years old and starting at the academy. People would say, "there's Maki and that friend of hers, you know the Sanin Jiraiya's daughter," but I was fine with that because Maki was my best friend.

I graduated from the academy early, and was preparing for my jounin exams by the time she graduated a year late at the age of thirteen. I had always been the more serious about our studies: she was a socialite.

Once I became jounin, Maki was feeling insecure about my being so much more advanced than her, so she began to poke fun of me. I was fine with it at first, when she was just making fun of me, because I was admittedly more flawed than a human being had rights to be, but when she started making fun of Jiraiya, that got to me.

It started out as a small comment every now and then, about how he left me with the Naras and didn't trust me. That was fine. But then she began to talk about how he was nearly never home, his perverted tendencies, the nature of his novels, his flawed job in bringing me up.

She was being particularly cruel one day as I returned from a mission, accompanied by one who had recently been added to my close friends inventory: Asuma Sarutobi. It was easier to ignore at first, but I got progressively angrier until I spun around, and accidentally released that Karasu.

That was when I first met Yamato, as he rushed over to try and stabilize my chakras. I had already known him, because he was in my graduating class from the academy, but other than that we had never spoken. Maki was in the hospital for two months, and after that I became an ANBU, assigned into Yamato's squad, and rarely left his side for fear that I might unleash Karasu again.

Those were the days when I began to fear myself.

"You okay?" Kakashi said, waving a hand in front of my face. I snapped out of it and nodded, standing up, "how about we go back out to the training grounds and spar a little, if that'll make you feel less…hazy," I complied, but said that I had to deliver my scrolls back to Jiraiya's apartment.

It looked as if it were going to rain any second soon, but it was fine because I liked the wet. It was already drizzling by the time we got to the training grounds, and we each took the time to put a thin protective sheen around our bodies to keep most deep injuries away.

And the match began. Kakashi, of course, made the first move because I was infamous for two things: never making the first move, and always on the defense. _That_ was my ninja code. The rain was getting harder and heavier as we continued to spar, movements nearly too quick to be detected by others, only intensified by my thin channel of Karasu power.

The match was a draw in the end, because the rain grew too heavy to see one's hand in front of their face, much less the other person. Well, that, and lightning struck a rather large tree and we couldn't be sure if the lightning was generated by us or the storm…and if it was us, we were dead to the groundskeepers.

"You are both wet and wearing new clothes," Jiraiya said as I stepped onto the welcome mat, slipping out of my shoes, "where did you get that? I thought you were broke," I made to take a step, but he shouted, "STAY WHERE YOU ARE! YOU'LL GET MY APARTMENT WET!"

"Dad, your apartment is _always_ wet," I said, waggling my eyebrows suggestively as he relayed a rather large towel from the bathroom to me, "and Kakashi bought it for me."

"Really now?" He asked, lounging across the couch with a grin, "Kakashi Hatake," he turned the name over between his lips, "he didn't make you try it on for him, did he?" I laughed and wrung my hair out on the mat before running over to the bathroom, running a bath.

I let Jiraiya in once my bath was ready, cocooning myself in the bubbles like I used to so that he couldn't see anything, "so it's been a few days. You done with that jutsu yet?"

"Closer," I promised, rubbing shampoo into my too-long hair, "will you please cut my hair for me when I'm done? It's too long to bear. Not too short, though, just short _enough_," He laughed and agreed,and we sat and talked four years worth, until the water turned cool and I made him leave so that I could dry myself and dress (in his clothes, of course).

Jiraiya had to leave again that Saturday, but managed to make it up to me by purchasing an entire wardrobe for me while I was out working on my jutsu, figuring that since we had similar taste it would be easy. He was mostly right.

But the graduation day was coming soon, and I was becoming increasingly more stressed about my little genin. I went back to the Nara house to find my vest, and ended up spending a few days there, and trading my vest in for a new, larger one at the Hokage's office.

"Alright," Iruka said as I turned up for the first day, which would consist of my greeting the children, and taking them around for a bit, "your team is in room 218 and you're the captain of team twelve."

"Large graduating class?" I asked, and he just shook his head at me, unleashing me into the world of new and strange.

Of course, room 218 was impossible to find. I checked the entire second floor, with no sign of 218, so I decided to scan the entire building, and apparently, they did floor numbers backwards at the academy, so the seventh floor was _actually_ the second floor, and I was forty-five minutes late.

There were three of them…obviously. That was the only thing that I thought as I walked through the door, my mind completely blank. The first thing that attracted my attention was the girl, who appeared to be doing some sort of acrobatics routine in the rafters of the room. She had a rather lean body and deep tan skin, with lavender hair.

The next was a boy who sat in the front row, drawing in a small pad, his tongue curled around his white front teeth. He seemed both young and feminine for his age, with dark hair that fell in disarray around his small, innocent face. His eyes were a deep violet.

It took me a few minutes to find the last member of the squad, but he was there, lying asleep on the last desk in the very back of the room, his face looking serene beneath a cloud of chocolate-colored curls. None of them realized that I had walked through the door, so I just sat down at the desk, watching as they continued their work.

The girl was very bendy, twisting herself into small holes and flexing her feet about. Other than that, the first boy appeared to enjoy drawing, and the second had an affinity for sleeping. Nice squad, I guess.

Eventually, the girl spotted me, and fell with a gasp onto the table, attracting the attention of both the first boy and the second one, who jerked awake at the sudden noise, "I think that you guys need to sharpen your senses a bit," was all that I said, as they turned to look at me, eyes fearful, "let's go outside."

It was hard to remember what I was thinking the first time that I met my sensei, but I was pretty sure that I didn't act _this_ terrified. We walked over to the riverside, because that was my favorite place to chill out.

"So," I said, sitting before them, "tell me about yourselves."

"What do you want to know?" Asked the first boy, his eyes finding mine timidly.

That was a good question, I thought, "I want to know your name, a hobby, what you like, what you dislike, and two fun facts...for fun. Can we do that?" I left out hopes and dreams on purpose. I hated that question because I didn't have any hopes…or dreams.

"You go first," the girl said daringly, her brown eyes meeting mine.

"Alright. My name is Ayame Fujioka, I don't really have any hobbies, I like free things, I dislike it when people don't listen to me," I flashed a dark look at the three of them for effect, "and two fun facts…let's see. Um, I intimidate people because I don't use proper name suffixes and have a monotone. Now you," I pointed to the first boy, with the violet eyes and dark hair.

"I'm Riku Kitamura," he said, running a bony hand through his hair, "my hobby is that I'm good at swimming," that got me by surprise. I thought he was going to say drawing, "I like dogs, I dislike being sick, and there are no fun facts about me."

The girl went next, "I'm Kyou Watari, my hobby is that I'm really good at eavesdropping and spying on people," I thought about Jiraiya immediately and that he would like this girl, "I like eating, I dislike being lazy, and for fun facts: I have a cat and sleep sitting."

The other boy was last. He had tan skin and small moles scattered across his face, along with slate grey eyes, "I'm Izumi Ochiai, my hobby is that I enjoy sunbathing, I like sleeping, I dislike fun facts, and for fun facts…I live in the hospital and I don't have any cousins."

"Alright, and now that we all know each other, I will dismiss you for the day. Tomorrow morning, I want you all bright and early. Four o'clock. I'll cover breakfast, so no worries," they looked up at me wide-eyed as I straightened back up, "see you tomorrow."

**Ahhhhhh, the joy of writing. I think I'm going to start another project, so that I don't go crazy with Naruto overload.**

**You know, I've done that before.**

**Love y'all!**

**Piper**


	5. Bell Test and a Dinner Wait

**It's Piper! :D I'm really tired today, and I only have one chapter for y'all. I really hope it's good, but I'd get a better idea if you would TELL me whether or not it's good...nicely, though. :o**

**Chapter Six: Bell Test and a (not-so-long) Dinner Wait**

I was hardly surprised when Kakashi caught me at the bridge, his uncovered eye grinning, "I am not intimidated by the monotone, but I'm not sure if that's because I have a similar problem to yours," he announced, falling into step beside me as we continued down the walk, "but I am interested in whether or not your team is going to pass the test."

"Should I go easy on them?"

"No. As long as they figure it out, they pass. They don't really need to get the bells. Oh, and bring something to do, because they usually don't figure it out for the first few hours. Try that new jutsu out on one of them and see what happens," he was becoming excited, like a child. I didn't bother to tell him that I hadn't finished it yet.

"Kakashi! Fight me like a man!" I knew it was Gai because, I mean, who else sounds like that? Or _looks_ like that? I turned around and he was standing, so painfully proud in his horrid green jumpsuit. And it was such a wonderful sight that I wanted to run and jump into his arms like a small child.

So I did.

"Who is that?" He asked me between laughs, pushing my hair from my face, "thanks for coming to see me straight away, Aya-chan. It's not like you've been here a month or anything. As you might know, youth waits for none."

I laughed as he let me down and replied grinning, "I still don't have any clue what you're saying, but I did miss you. I was just scared."

It was Gai's turn to laugh now, and Kakashi just stood a distance away, watching bemusedly. "What were you scared of? That I wouldn't accept you back?" I nodded, "I have decided that our competition can save itself for another day, Kakashi, for this afternoon I have chosen to bask in youthfulness with my newly recovered comrade."

"Okay," Kakashi said with a shrug, "see ya, Ayame," he turned on his heel and disappeared, and Gai took me back to the bar—not the one that I had drunk at the first night, but a special one, in the heart of the village, that only accepted Jounin and ANBU, along with up to two other guests, as long as those two guests were either genin or chunin.

I had done my best to avoid this particular bar, because it was the kind of place that was impossible to go to without seeing at least three people that you knew. I showed the bouncer my ANBU shoulder tattoo on our way in, and he let me in without an ID.

"I'm not going to drink," I said, sitting down beside him at the bar, "tomorrow is an important day. It's bell tests with my new squad…and I'm broke."

Gai laughed out loud, putting one hand on my shoulder in excitement, "I had heard that you were assigned a squad," he was served a large mug of sake and I instantly regretted not ordering my own drink, even though I was still devoid of money.

"So I heard you escaped from me," said Ibiki, appearing suddenly beside me with neck-breaking speed, "wise plan, though. You're not the first one who pulled that on me. It was your father's idea, though, wasn't it?"

I grinned over at him, feeling awkward with no drink in my hand, "don't believe I'm smart enough to think something like that up?"

"Oh, I thoroughly believe that you're smart enough. That just doesn't seem so much…your style. How's the Hakaisha-Karasu doing?"

I kept my voice sweet, "I don't know, maybe I should show you."

"That's your problem, Fujioka," he said, jabbing me hard in the collarbone, "you're all talk and nothing else," his eyes were dark, "you could never unleash the Hakaisha-Karasu on somebody you _hated_, much less me."

"Well who's to say I don't hate _you?_"

"Bullshit," he said, slamming his fist down on the counter, "there's only one person you hate," his eyes had a dark, almost evil flash to them. It scared me, "and I think we both know who that person is. You need to face life like the ninja that you are, Fujioka, and stop this god-awful unintelligent self-indulgence, because—"

"I dare say that you have said your part, Ibiki," a smooth voice interrupted. Gai had turned to speak to a friend on the other side of him, and I was beginning to tremble beneath Ibiki's words, partially because they were all true. I turned away from Ibiki, allowing him to be scolded by—Yamato!

It was amazing how much I wanted to jump on him, and squeeze him around the shoulders like the best friend of mine that he was, because if somebody had asked me who my best friend of all time was, it would easily be him, "Yamato," I said, and there was suddenly a grin on my face as his almond-shaped eyes settled on mine, his expression almost rueful.

"I was told you were here," he said, sitting beside me in Ibiki's vacated spot, leaning into my huge hug, his hands feeling nice and protective on my back, "so I decided to come over and see my best friend who's been avoiding me for a month."

I laughed at that, "sorry. Just ask around: I've been avoiding everyone. You know I'm a little anti-social creature, right?" He shrugged, "so what have _you_ been up to lately?"

"Well, I'm engaged for one thing," he said, his expression nervous for some reason. Like he thought I might be jealous.

"That's awesome! Who's the lucky man?" I decided to turn it into a joke, mainly to show Yamato that I wasn't feeling threatened by his taking a wife.

"Ha-ha," he said sarcastically, "and you wouldn't know her."

We talked for a while more before I realized that I would have to be at the training ground for four o'clock the next morning, and that the person that I _had_ come with was Gai. So we said our goodbyes, he laughed at the fact that I had a squad (the same as every single other person's reply) and I went back to spend my four hours of sleep in Jiraiya's apartment.

Naturally, when I woke up, I couldn't find any books that I wanted to read in Jiraiya's inventory, and no bookstores would be open at three-thirty in the morning, so I just grabbed one of those icha-icha books that I saw people reading all over the place. It would be nice to finally read something written by my father.

All three of my squad were already at the training ground when I arrived, groping around in my waist pouch for the two bells that had been given to me. Explain the task and tell them to go.

Kakashi was right: it was boring. I leaned up against a tree with the book, and found it both hard _and_ easy to believe that Jiraiya would write something like this. It was right up his alley, and I had to admit that it was pretty funny.

In the meantime, the three of them moved around, trying to conceal themselves. They were doing a pretty shitty job, though. Izumi and Riku were in neighboring bushes, and Kyou was poised up in the branches of _my_ tree, getting ready to strike. It was easy to percept her motions and as she leapt from the tree, I swatted her down easily with one hand.

Lunch came and went, along with another hour and a half before Riku finally realized what they were supposed to do. I was a good half-way through the novel by that point, but perked my ears to listen to him, doing a snake seal and disappearing into the ground, tunneling my way over to listen.

"I think I figured something out," Riku was whispering as Izumi onlooked, nodding his head as Riku slowly cracked the code to their true mission. I felt at my waist to make sure that both bells were still there, and they unleashed a tinkling noise, distracting both Riku and Izumi, "where'd she go?" Riku hissed, but Izumi was talking at the same time.

"We have to find Kyou and tell her," Izumi said quickly, but before they could act I reached up out of the ground and latched around somebody's ankle: probably Riku's, judging from the size of it. I knew it went against my code to make the first move, but these children needed a push.

I was proven correct as I yanked him down into the earth, only leaving his head and shoulders above the ground, and all that he had to say was, "go and find Kyou, then you guys can come back," and I got my most evil idea yet.

Producing an earth clone, I left it in my little tunnel, allowing it to tickle Riku, who exceeded my expectations by yelping and squirming around while my real body appeared in a tree, slightly behind him bud hidden. Izumi came back, accompanied by Kyou and Riku said through clenched teeth, "she's tickling me from in the earth."

They nodded and put their heads together to come up with a none-too-bad plan, although nobody stopped to think that it might be a clone. Kyou tied a red ribbon to her wrist, handed the end of to Izumi, then they counted to three, and Izumi pulled him out as hard as he could, while Kyou jumped into the hole before it could close up, although the moment she hit 'me,' 'I' disappeared.

"Shit," cursed little Riku as the tunnel began to cave in around Kyou, and the two of them managed to dig her out, the three of them huddling for a new plan. I wondered if they would take it to their advantage that Kyou was already perfectly camouflaged. Probably not.

So, I just returned to where I had been initially and read my book as if I had never left. I didn't want to eavesdrop on their plan: it would be much more fun like this, although I knew that they would probably take the three-on-one approach.

It took a while, and the sunset couldn't have been too far off, but the next thing I knew, all three of them were running at me: so I was right. But half-way through the clearing, Kyou flat-out fainted, falling into a heap on the ground. So much for plan.

It was pretty sketchy, though, that Kyou passed out. All that had happened was that a tunnel caved in. Was she really that weak, or was it a trick? I didn't have much time to think about it, though, as the two of them had my hands occupied neither of them managing to reach the bells, when I got an idea.

I switched to fighting with a hand and a foot, kicking away all of Riku's attack as I pulled out a kunai and threw it straight at Kyou's body, proving me correct as with a loud "POP" it turned into a small log.

That meant that she would be coming up from behind to get the bells. I continued to fight Riku and Izumi with an arm and a leg, while taking out another kunai with my spare hand, turning my head to look for Kyou while reading their tells with my body.

She would probably be in a tree, based on her previous actions. I could feel Riku and Izumi becoming irritated with the fact that I could easily fend both of them off at once while not even looking in their direction. I was right, she was in the tree.

As Kyou dropped from above, I easily deflected her with my hand, punching her away rather than slicing her with the kunai. That was the closest they came to the bells all day, even though they passed.

As the sun set and we all gathered again, all three of their faces showed raw disappointment, "sorry, but the game was that you needed to get the bells," I said, playing along with their disappointment, "but you were correct in your attempts, and as time goes by, you will eventually be able to get these bells," I said, unlatching them from my belt and jingling them, "so congratulations. You are now officially Konohagakure nin. Let's meet back here tomorrow morning, and we'll go on our first mission."

"I liked the bored expression on your face as they came at you with everything they had," Jiraiya said as I walked off the grounds, Naruto at his side, "I think that was the cherry on top of their failure," he didn't bother to point out that they had actually succeeded, just hugged me and caught sight of the book that I was holding, giving me a sly smile.

"Shut up," I said, glaring, "Kakashi told me to bring something to do, I didn't want to risk ruining my scrolls, and I couldn't find an open bookstore. So I brought this."

"No, no, no," he shook his head, "I'm glad that you've developed an interest in our family business. It warms my heart," on the other side of him, Naruto harrumphed, looking back at my three students, all standing shell-shocked on the training ground.

"I, for one, don't like the bell test," was all he said.

Jiraiya shook his head, laughing, "you're just bitter that you got tied to a pole and had to be fed your lunch," he said, reaching over to pinch his student's cheek affectionately, "they do seem a bright group of kids, though, so congratulations," he said, turning back to me, "and I see that you have been ignoring the fact that I bought you your own clothes."

"For one thing, the clothes that you bought nearly immobilize me in their tightness—I _have_ grown since I was twelve—and for another, I like your clothes. They're soft and comfortable," and it's sort of like having him there as a part of me, when he was gone, "you've already worn them in."

"So are you saying that even if I bought you an outfit identical to mine, but in your size, you would ignore it and continue to wear my own clothing?"

I nodded. He was getting it.

"Then I should buy some more clothes for myself," was his reply, and he threw his arms around both of our shoulders, "my two favorite people," he said out loud to us, grinning, "both alike me but in different ways."

"How am _I_ like _you?_" Both me and Naruto asked in unison, leaning forward to look at him, and although I had hardly met Naruto, I found that I was liking him more and more. Jiraiya ignored our question, and dropped Naruto off once again at his house, walking home arm-in-arm with me.

Jiraiya unlocked his apartment, letting the two of us in and pulling my vest off of my shoulders disgustedly, "stop wearing that monstrosity. It doesn't suit you at all," I let him take it off of me, "and as we walked, I got an idea…if you will follow me to my storage closet."

Instead of following him, I sat down on the couch, folding my legs beneath me. He came back with two big crates, "to solve our clothing dilemma," he pulled open the lid of one of those crates, "from the days before I discovered that green was my color," he pulled out an outfit that was identical to the one he wore, except that the color was a periwinkle color, lined with black. "It's just as worn as everything else I own," he turned around so that I could shrug into the little kimono. It _was_ just as comfortable as his green ones.

"And one of these, instead of that monstrosity of a vest," he said, handing me a red cloak, identical to his own, "it's a family thing," he said, helping me position it on my shoulders, "now you're one of my own," he ruffled my hair, "and I bought you some legitimate shoes," he said, "i went with black instead of navy."

"Dad, you need to stop buying me shit," I said with a laugh, slipping into the traditional navy sandals, fitting snugly around my ankles and lower calves, "and learn that I like hand-me-downs the most."

His black belt was a bit big on me, so he laughed at the irony, "there are _some_ things that I need to buy you," he said, pulling on the belt and snapping it back against my waist, "but I do happen to have a smaller one somewhere," he held up a finger and went back into his storage closet as I adjusted the kunai holder on my thigh.

The other belt fit me right, so I put the correct pouches on it, one for kunai, one for shuriken, and one for other shit that I might need.

"God, every time I come home, you make me even sadder that I have to leave," he said, laughing that the cloak was longer than the kimono as I irritatedly tried to make it look shorter, "this sucks. Wanna go to dinner?"

"You're not going to cook for me?" I asked mockingly, taking his arm as we walked towards the door.

"Sorry, but my expertise extends only as far as poached eggs," he replied, "but I fooled you with my excellent egg-making skills, right?"

I laughed as we continued down the street, interrupted by a, "it's like every time I turn around, you two look more and more alike," causing the two of us to pivot very suddenly and banging heads with each other very abruptly, "See, it's like mirror image," Tsunade smiled and waved to us, "where are you two headed?"

"To dinner," Jiraiya said as she caught up with us, smiling, "want to join?"

She shrugged and fell into step on the other side of me, before adding with a good-natured smile, "it's not like I have a job to do or anything? I'm just the Hokage. So I heard that you passed your squad on to the next level," she said to me, smiling.

"Yeah, they were pretty impressive, too," Jiraiya said with a nod, "she had to use an entire limb to fend off each of them. If there were four, she's be out of luck," Tsunade looked at me with a smile, then back to Jiraiya to continue, "it was one of the more comical things I've seen in a while."

"Well congratulations to them, then," she said as we walked into the restaurant, approaching the desk so that Jiraiya could speak, "table for three, please."

The host, who had been pushing papers about with a stressed facial expression said, "that'll be a two hour—" then he looked up and noticed to whom he had been speaking, with Tsunade in the background, "right this way," and led us to a booth in the back, taking some poor man's table.

"Well _now_ I feel bad," Tsunade said, placing her napkin in her lap as I shuffled into the seat beside her, allowing Jiraiya to have an entire bench to himself.

"Bad enough to wait two hours?" Jiraiya asked, and leaned forward to whisper, "I was lying earlier—_now_ I'm with my two favorite people. Don't tell Naruto that he only takes third place."

For the presence of Tsunade, we were awarded VIP treatment and served our food rather quickly, "excuse me," said a woman, walking over. I recognized her as one of the nicer nurses at the hospital. She was around thirty-five years old, and had nursed me back to health after the incident. "Ayame Fujioka?"

"Um…this is she," I said nervously, vision straying over to Jiraiya, who nodded encouragingly.

"Well my name is Sonomi Ochiai, and I would like to thank you so much for being Izumi's sensei," she extended one hand, which I shook, awe-struck. That must explain Izumi's fun fact about living in the hospital.

"The, uh, pleasure's all mine," I said, unsure of exactly what to say as I withdrew my hand, "make sure Izumi gets some sleep, though, because we're gonna be working starting tomorrow."

We both laughed at Izumi's insomniac expense, then "thanks again, Ayame-san," she bowed to me, then turned and bowed to Tsunade before making her quick exit.

"Am I the only one who thought that was the most awkward exchange that I have ever participated in?" I asked, and both Jiraiya and Tsunade shook their heads to confirm that I was _not_ the only one.

Dinner went smoothly for the rest of the evening, then I went home with Jiraiya to prepare for the first day of missions.

**Hope y'all liked it.**

**-Piper**


	6. HeartToHearts

**It's been a week or two. We had to drive through Vancouver to get to Alaska and my connection was all screwed up everywhere, and they didn't wanna pay for internet and...well, I'm just making up excuses now! Please enjoy.**

**Chapter Six: Heart-To-Hearts (gotta love 'em!)**

The next morning, I was once again the last member of our team to arrive, but only because I had to grab another couple of books. One thing that I loved about these Genin is that they do the easiest jobs, and I get paid between five and ten thousand Ryo for supervising them.

And the missions would probably be boring, so I brought my scrolls with me as well.

My team seemed to be boring as far as forehead protectors went: they all wore theirs the traditional way, around the forehead. I sighed and led them to the Hokage's office, their eyes wide and wondrous as they looked around, trying to drink in everything at once.

"Hey, Aya," called an ANBU captain, causing me to stop and squint until I recognized the patterns on his ceramic mask, "this your squad?" He asked, pulling it off of his face and looking down at my children, who looked ready to piss themselves with fear.

"Yeah," I said, "I got quite the catch," and then something clicked and I walked closer to him, "can I ask you a question?" I asked in the lowest voice I could call on, close to his ear. He nodded, "you know how you're engaged right?"

"No," Yamato said sarcastically, "must've slipped my mind that I'm _getting married_."

I punched him in the arm, "shut up. Well, I can't help but to remember something that Kakashi told me the other day, and I want you to answer honestly." Yamato laughed and leaned back against the wall. We were whispering now, completely shunning out my new team, "well would that fiancee of yours happen to be named Maki Miyazaki?"

He laughed out loud now, "fuck no," he said loudly, clapping me on the shoulder, "she's not my type, anyway. I don't really go for the mean ones."

"Well in that case, can I meet her?"

"I think you've got a team to lead," Yamato said, slipping his mask on and bumping hips violently with me as he walked past and sashayed down the hall

"Hey, Yamato!" I called after him. He turned around and I stuck out both of my middle fingers at him before turning to my squad and saying loudly, "that's my best friend, Yamato. Whatever you do, you don't want to end up like him."

"See you in a few!" Yamato shouted, disappearing through the door. I laughed at the expression on Kyou's face as I continued to herd them towards the Hokage's office.

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, talking to her assistant, Shizune, who lay across the couch. Shizune made to get up when she heard the door open, but Tsunade held out a hand and said, "no need. It's just Ayame."

"Screw you," I said, picking up a throw pillow and throwing it at Tsunade, who caught it and discarded it on Shizune. My squad were so completely horrified, jaws hanging slack. I was in a good mood.

"We got your mission," Tsunade said, "and I happen to know that you need the ryo, so I got you an important one," my students perked up at the word _important_, "our main gate is currently under repair, so we need the four of you to stand on the main road and direct all incoming missions on the path through the woods to the east gate—you know the one. Keep this up till sunset, and—" she held up a small pouch and shook it around. It didn't take a super-genius to know that it contained my pay.

This would be a good opportunity to work on that jutsu, which was nearly finished. All that I had to do was finish up with the hand seals.

"Hey, Ayame-sensei," said Izumi as we walked out to the east gate, then down the path. I waved to the first gate ANBU. The second was probably waiting by the main gate.

"Yeah?"

"Are you good friends with the Hokage-sama?"

I shrugged, "she's my godmother, so I guess so," was my lame reply as we came to our post, "okay, Kyou can have the first rotation," I said, "you just stand there and take all incoming Leaf Nin through to the gate. Riku can have the second in an hour."

I sat down and pulled out my scrolls to keep working, Izumi lay in the grass, already half-way down the path to sleep, and Riku had produced his drawing pad, seemingly out of nowhere, "back to see me so soon?" Yamato joked, sitting beside me, "I managed to pull some strings and get gate guard duty, watch your super teacher skills in action."

I laughed and continued writing shortcuts and hand seals on my last scroll.

We were about five shifts (in other words five hours) into the day and Izumi had just started his second shift when I completed my jutsu, feeling exceedingly proud.

"_Wow_, are my eyes deceiving me or has Ayame Fujioka really returned?" it was right on cue that Asuma Sarutobi had shown up with his team, an annoyed expression on his face and cigarette clutched in his fist—as always, "I mean, Shikamaru had told me it was so, but _really?_"

I smiled up at him, hoping that my face looked sorry in the cheeky way, "Asuma, you know what would be a really good homecoming present for me?" I didn't give him a chance to reply, "if you stand there and let me try out my new jutsu on you. Shikamaru and Yamato, too. Everyone else here has valuable lives, so stand back."

"I value my life very highly—as well as my health," Asuma said at the same time as Shikamaru said, "sweet! You finished it."

"No worries, this is a bondage jutsu. It expresses my love of nonviolence."

"At least tell me the name before I do this," spoke Yamato, who hadn't moved from his position. All of the genin onlookers—including Shikamaru's friends—were extremely interested.

"I haven't named it yet, I finished it just as you walked up—oh, and wanna have a drink at the bar with me later?" He would say yes, so I didn't have to wait for it. I began to put together the hand seals, breathing through my nose as I put them in the right order: Boar, Snake, Tiger, Horse, Dog, both hands out in the direction of my three friends, huddled in the middle of the path.

And it worked! I'd had to add a thin crust of translucent dirt to the air, with tiny pinpricks for filtered oxygen to seep in and not effect the zero-gravity, "_whoa!_" Asuma had exclaimed, and as I looked through the walls, I could see their shapes, floating around aimlessly. I released my hold on it, using a small chain of mental chakra to keep it in place.

"Try to break it!" I called, and could faintly see Yamato's figure pull out a shuriken and throw it as hard as he could at the wall of the bubble. It immediately began to bounce around, picking up momentum as it ricocheted back and forth.

"GET ME OUT OF THIS!" Asuma yelled threateningly, throwing himself against the wall and beginning to ricochet with the same velocity as Yamato's shuriken. I laughed and released the jutsu, letting the dirt fall all over the ground.

"Pretty good, right?" I said. All three of them looked as if they had gone swimming in a needle-stack, small cuts all over their bodies.

Asuma shook his head, laughing, "only you could think that up. That one might get an S-rank if you play your cards right with it," he nodded, wiping a trickle of blood from his arm, "now can I pass, or are you going to experiment water torture on me?"

"Eight O'clock at the bar," I said, waving to Izumi that he could take Asuma's team through and to the east gate, winking at Shikamaru, who shook his head and laughed, "remember, you gotta teach that to my dad!" He said as he tailed the group.

Kyou was looking wide-eyed at me, her mouth half-open, "you're _really_ good," she said, "could you teach that to _me?_"

I shrugged, "probably not now, but I will eventually," I promised, pulling out one of Jiraiya's books to read, but finding myself unable to get into it. Izumi's shift ended and Kyou started again, so I just sat and talked to Yamato, Riku and Izumi both being too preoccupied to talk to me.

"You're lucky. You have a quiet team," Kakashi said, appearing with a pop, "I was told both that you were here and that you finished your jutsu," he plopped down between Yamato and I so that we sat in a triangle, "can I see it?"

"Yeah," I said, standing up.

"Make sure to throw a shuriken at it!" Yamato called as I finished my hand seals and enveloped Kakashi in the now-familiar sphere, "it really is brilliant," said Yamato to me, as Kakashi took his advice and threw not one, but three shurikens at the inner wall of the sphere, and saw the immediate consequences. I didn't let him suffer for too long, though, before I let him down.

"Thanks for the advice, Yamato," Kakashi said, wiping a bit of blood from his eyelid with one finger, and the three of us sat together, bringing over Riku and Izumi to speak with us as Kyou sourly relayed people back and forth between the gates.

"_Wow_, she _really_ becomes more like her father every day," that was a mocking voice that sounded exactly the same as it had four years ago, the double-entendre in her words obvious. I had actually been lucky to avoid her so far, "how's it going, _Aya-chan?_" She said my name in a teasing tone, and I looked down at my knees.

"It's going fine, Maki," I said clearly, looking up at her. She was flanked by another two of my good friends, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, both of whom looked a little embarrassed to be with her. Maki looked pretty much the same. She still had her long blonde hair, ravishing good looks, iced blue eyes, and bodacious curves, accented by revealing clothes. She was one to talk about my father!

"So you're chasing these brats around because the ANBU black ops are too hard?" She asked, wrinkling her nose. Kotetsu shot me a sorry look.

"Well you wouldn't know," I said quietly, "because you've never been an ANBU," Kakashi put one fist over his mouth and I could tell that he was laughing quietly beneath the mask. It wasn't my jibe that was funny so much as Maki's reaction. Either I had poor judgement in friends, or she had gone through a drastic change.

"Come on, brat," she said to Kyou, who looked rather scared, "take me to the village."

I called out a little louder, "don't do it, Kyou! She can find her own way," Maki glared at me and disappeared down the path, "the east gate!" I called after her, then turned to my squad, "nobody turn out like her. She's mean."

Izumo and Kotetsu hung around after she had gone, joining our little parade, "she can deliver the documents on their own," Kotetsu said, "we missed our Aya-kun."

That's what caused me to pounce, enveloping the two of them in the largest hug that I'd offered since my return to Konoha. These two men were my first companions, out of anyone: my Genin squad from nearly ten years ago, "guys, this is what you'll be in ten years if things work out," I said to my own squad, snuggling right in-between my two friends, arms around their shoulders, "these were my genin companions. Do _you guys_ want to see my new jutsu?"

Kakashi and Yamato answered "no" and "yes" at the same time, so I did the jutsu one last time, knowing that I was at my limit once I released it, leaving two _more_ cut-up friends to sit back in the grass with me.

"Why don't you ever make any offensive jutsu?" Izumo asked, pulling a banana out of his bag and peeling it slowly, "since you're such an effective creator and shit."

"It's 'cause she's got too many nature affinities, she couldn't choose one," joked Yamato, a hand on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

I nodded, "while I _can _control four of the five chakra natures, I don't like being on the offense, and I never am, so why create my own jutsu? I'll just use someone else's."

"It's not the same," Kakashi said, leaning forward, "it's never the same when you're not the creator. There's no dominion over your jutsu. And sometimes, the best defense is a good offense."

So the rest of the day was spent with Yamato, Kakashi, Izumo, Kotetsu, and whichever two children from my squad were off-duty at that time, recounting old times and telling bad jokes. "Don't you have any friends that are girls?" Kyou finally asked.

"No, girls don't like me," I said, "my sense of humor is all wrong for that," that was as well as I could explain it. I could never figure out why I was outcast by other girls, but in my opinion the guys were more fun.

/\/\/\/\/\

"I heard you got quite a bandwagon going," Tsunade said as she handed me my pay: five thousand Ryo. That would get me through the next little while—and I wasn't broke anymore, "half of my men were hanging around with your squad when they should've been working."

I shrugged, "what can I do, I'm a magnet," I said jokingly, tucking the money into a pouch on my belt and turning to make my leave.

"You really do look just like your father," were her parting words to me. It was just around seven-thirty, and I remembered the eight o'clock drink that I was to share with Asuma. I had my ID with me this time, so I didn't have to gain admittance by showing my tattoo.

It was as if my bandwagon had randomly decided that it was a good night for a drink. In the bar were all four of my earlier company, although Izumo and Kotetsu had to have gotten in as guests, since they were both Chunin. I got a drink too, finally able to purchase for myself again, and we all drank and laughed and shouted out random monstrosities, laughing together.

Kakashi, though, it seemed was a bit _too_ drunk. He sat, hunched forward pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers in a way similar to how I did when I was feeling particularly horrible. After catching up with Asuma for at least three hours, it was one in the morning and I decided to escort Kakashi home.

I think it might've been the Karasu's power, but my drunk was very different than other people. Alcohol didn't effect me so badly while I was drunk, although it did me the proper haze and happiness that reality couldn't offer. I didn't do such stupid things, somehow managing to keep some sort of grip on reality no matter what.

"Come on," I said with a pained grunt as I slung a nearly-useless Kakashi Hatake across my shoulders, making my slow way down the street until he broke very suddenly.

It was dark, and all I could see was his silhouette as he dropped to all fours, violently yanked the mask from his face, and begin to puke violently in the gutter. All I could see from where I stood was his silhouetted profile, which consisted of a nose with a wavy bridge, from being broken.

Slowly, I walked up behind him and put one hand on his back, as if burping a baby. Eventually, he finished and put his mask back into place, collapsing back into my arms like he had been before.

And it occurred to me that I had no clue where he lived and the only thing was (oh, shit) to bring him back to Jiraiya's apartment. It took me a good hour to get him up there, though, and Jiraiya had women over again from the sound of it.

"Fine, you can have the couch," I said with an irritated growl, setting Kakashi down across the couch and walking over to get two glasses of water: one for him, one for me. He was about five minutes from passing out, so I figured I would wait it out and make sure he was safe before I went to bed as well.

I walked over to the closet and grabbed a blanket, then by the time I got back, he was passed out. I put him on his side in case he were to throw up, and then realized that he would choke anyway because of that retarded mask. So, I looked away, and as quickly as I could I yanked the mask down around his chin and pulled the blanket up so that it covered his face.

There we go. If he didn't want me to see, I wasn't going to look, and that was that. Since he was safely asleep, I decided that it was a good time to shower. The running water would alert Jiraiya that I was home—not that the fact would slow him down or anything.

I was stuck with the regrets that I usually rolled over in my brain while in the shower. Bath was my relaxing time, but shower was my thinking time. The bad part of being raised more male than female—when I thought about it, my upbringing was far too male-dominant—was that you didn't get the same foreign approach to the opposite sex.

When all your friends are male, there's nothing exotic about the male species, nothing to strive for in a romantic relationship that you couldn't (probably) have in real life. Part of what attracts males and females to each other is the strange foreignness—something that I missed out on. I couldn't have a real boyfriend, because almost all of the worthwhile males in the village were too close of friends with me that it would be weird to date.

Before I realized it, the water was cold and I was shivering. So much for a nice shower.

Thinking that I was safe, I walked out in a towel and went to get another cup of water. Upon sitting down in the chair where I would be sleeping that night, I discovered with a violent jump that Kakashi's eyes were, in face, open, "did you see my face?" He asked, still lying down with the blanket across his face.

"No, I figured that there was a reason you kept it hidden. And I'm not much of a secret-keeper, anyway."

His eyes—both of them, he had removed his headband—widened in surprise, "you don't seem like the bigmouthed type of person to me."

"Oh, I'm not," I said with a shake of my head, "It's just—you know how when you confide in someone, it's meant to make you feel better?" He nodded, "well when people confide in me, they don't feel any better. Because I'm not a person to tell. Just a monster that gobbles everything up."

He rolled his eyes, then blinked slowly before pointedly ignoring (but not denying) what I had said, "those scars are my favorite part of you," he said, and I was suddenly aware of my rather revealed towel-clad body.

"I'm _that_ ugly, huh?" I said with a laugh, scratching the scars beneath my right jaw.

"No, you're actually rather beautiful," I found myself blushing at this slightly. The only other people who had ever called me beautiful were Kushina, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, "it's just that—where's the _interesting_ in beautiful?" I furrowed my brow, "I mean, people who are just beautiful are…_just_ _beautiful_. Why not be beautiful and have an interesting story to go along with it?"

"Well, the story of these scars is not interesting as much as it is disturbing—"

"I know the story and _I_ think it's interesting."

"—And you're drunk and need to go to sleep," I patted the side of his head, and stood to go and put on my pajamas (AKA Jiraiya's extra sleeping t-shirt), then a blanket. On my way back to the living room area, I shut off the lights.

"Good night," I heart him whisper as I curled up into a tiny ball so that I could fit onto the chair. The next thing I knew, I was asleep.

**Nice chapter, i guess...I don't really know. SO TELL ME! puhrleese.**

**Piper**


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